Thomas defends record as chief county prosecutor

Former Maricopa County attorney holds press conference to address disbarment

As a sideshow of protesters swirled around him Wednesday, former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas defiantly defended his tenure as top county prosecutor, blaming others for shooting down his high-flying mission against government corruption.

Thomas, ordered disbarred Tuesday along with former Deputy County Attorney Lisa Aubuchon, said he was unsure if he would appeal, but he plans to dedicate his time to an anti-corruption citizen initiative so voters can take up the fight with him. And, he said, he is writing a book.

Details on both will come later, he said.

The location of the press conference was named at the last minute: the plaza between the Orpheum Theater and the Wells Fargo Plaza building in downtown Phoenix. Thomas strode in briskly in shirtsleeves, shook hands with reporters and took a stance at the podium.

A dozen demonstrators -- anti- and pro-Thomas -- immediately rushed behind him. His adversaries held a large sign festooned with the word "Clown" over his head, while his supporters flashed their own placards and buttons saying, "Don't believe the liberal media." They pushed, jostled and threatened each other.

"Arizona continues to have some of the worst corruption in America, according to a recent national survey," Thomas began. He was interrupted by protesters before he reached the second sentence.

"We recently received a grade D for corruption," he continued. "After what just happened, we deserve an F. Arizona, after what happened yesterday, has become Mexico. People of this community need to understand what happened yesterday when my law license was targeted."

He remained unrepentant even in the face of disbarment, a daunting penalty for an attorney and, by extension, a politician. He maintained that he had been unfairly judged during his months-long disciplinary hearing.

When questioned by reporters, Thomas also said he had not been contacted by the FBI regarding an abuse-of-power probe and did not expect to face federal charges as rumored.

He complained that the county had repeatedly fired his lawyers, "stacking the deck" against him. And, as evidence of ongoing corruption, he criticized current County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne for not prosecuting politicians who accepted free tickets to sporting events.

He struggled to be heard over the noise of the protesters. The activist gadfly Randy Parraz of Citizens for a Better Arizona repeatedly interrupted Thomas' remarks to ask why Sheriff Joe Arpaio was not in attendance. Thomas looked uncomfortable when his own supporters shouted Parraz down, calling out epithets against illegal immigrants and even calling the counter-protesters "communists."

At times, the spectacle lapsed into theater: An obviously impaired young man walked between Thomas and TV cameras, smiling and waving. To one side, a man in a Mexican Lucha Libre wrestler's mask who was holding a sign shouted at Thomas while an elderly Thomas supporter in a cowboy hat tried to push him away by driving his motorized wheelchair into him.

Thomas was noncommittal when asked if he planned to appeal the decision of the Arizona Supreme Court disciplinary panel that ordered him disbarred. And when he compared his travails to those of greater men like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Catholic martyr Sir Thomas More, the crowd erupted in jeers.

"Someone has to fight for justice," he said. "I've stated my case. I did my job. The loser is the people of Arizona."

Then, as quickly as he had arrived, he slipped back into the city and disappeared.

Moments later, Aubuchon, also ordered disbarred, took the podium to say she would likely appeal because, among other reasons, Chief Disciplinary Judge William O'Neil had played a part in the events that led to her disbarment. He presided over a hearing in which a judge targeted by her and Thomas was granted a restraining order against criminal charges.

"Unfortunately, Judge O'Neil didn't have the courtesy to learn how to pronounce my name," Aubuchon said. And in fact, all through the proceedings, which spanned from September to Tuesday, he repeatedly called her something that sounded like "Ms. Am-bi-shan."

After the press conference, Brandy Baron, a Thomas supporter, lingered to tell the press that Tuesday's order was "just not right."

"I'm standing up for Andrew Thomas," she said. "I'm amazed that he's been punished the way he has, and yet we have people the likes of (Supervisor Mary Rose) Wilcox, who have abused their power and have been so unethical during their reign, and no one questions it. They have the people and the money and the power behind them to cover it up."

Another Thomas supporter, Paul Yoder, said the liberal media and "corrupt" state Supreme Court are too focused on discrediting Thomas.

"There are elements in our justice system in Arizona much more interested in discrediting Sheriff Joe and our side than in giving true justice to Arizona," Yoder said. "You can't get true justice in Arizona, and that's why" Thomas was ordered disbarred.

But when contacted after the press conference, officials with the State Bar of Arizona and the Arizona Supreme Court said the disciplinary proceeding was as fair and impartial as possible.

Court and Bar officials said there was no effort to stall the proceedings so they would fall under a new disciplinary system that Aubuchon claimed was disadvantageous to her. Officials pointed out that Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch set the time line to transition to the new system in July 2009, before Thomas and Aubuchon faced Bar allegations.

John Phelps, CEO and executive director of the Bar, said the decision was not cause for celebration.

"Anytime one of our members fails to meet the high standards we set ... it diminishes our profession," Phelps said. "In this case, where you have lawyers given so much power and authority ... and in a position of very high public trust, it is 10 times more devastating to the image of lawyers and to our overall profession."

Maricopa County Manager David Smith told The Arizona Republic on Wednesday that county officials in coming days will determine whether they will cover the costs of appeals by any of the attorneys. Also, officials will begin discussions on whether the county will attempt to recoup any of the $1.6 million in taxpayer money that it spent to defend the three attorneys.

In July 2010, the county Board of Supervisors notified Thomas, Aubuchon, Arpaio and former Sheriff's Chief Deputy David Hendershott that the county's trust might not cover certain damages if it is found they acted criminally and outside of the scope of their official duties.

Former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, who was officially disbarred on Tuesday by a three-member disciplinary panel of the Arizona State Supreme Court for failed public corruption investigations he launched with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, speaks at news conference amid supporters and detractors, Wednesday, April 11, 2012, in Phoenix.